Strangers
by InfernalCadavers
Summary: Star-crossed lovers? Ha, no. More like kindred souls in a drunken mess. The repercussions of which are shocking, especially the next morning. AU - No zombies. M for language and adult situations. No smut. New chapters in progress 9/17.
1. Chapter 1

There was an arm draped over me. Did I somehow magically spawn an extra arm during the night? If not where did this arm come from? Better yet who did the arm belong to? I was really concerned about this arm. Hesitantly I shifted my hand and found the hand attached to the mystery arm. The fingers felt rough, masculine. Based on that I presumed the arm belonged to a man. What was a man doing in bed with me? How had he ended up in bed with me? Suddenly I was concerned more with how the arm came to be draped over me than the actual arm itself. His fingers twitched, causing me jump slightly and have reality crash around me.

Oh god, I was naked. He was naked. Fuck, fuck, fuck. This was so not good. I'm not the kind of girl who does the whole one night stand thing. My head was pounding and my whole body ached. Shit. We had sex. I just knew it, from the way certain muscles felt to that weird, pseudo-calm feeling I only got after mind-blowing sex, and the obvious fact we were both naked and spooning. My mind began racing, well as much as it could while still in the typical just woke up hungover grogginess. There was light coming from somewhere taking no pity on me while shining in all its glaring glory on my face. Without thinking I groaned causing a chain reaction of events that my hangover-addled mind could barely comprehend. His arm slid off me as I brought my own hand up to cover my still closed eyes. There was a groan, decidedly way more masculine than I could ever sound, that came from somewhere behind me. As I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact there was someone else in bed with me when the slightly cold feeling of something hard against my nose stopped all my thoughts dead in their tracks. Did I do something to my hand last night that I don't remember? Needing to know immediately about my hand, because that was so much more important than the stranger I slept with, I wrenched my eyes open. Pulling my hand back a little from my face my eyes focused on the small silver band glowering at me from my left ring finger. I sat up quickly, dismissing the almost instant dizziness.

"What the fuck?" I exclaimed somewhere between a squawk and a shriek.

Disregarding my lack of clothing I turned to the man who was now grumbling about loud noises and rubbing his eyes. Another silver band, this time from his ring finger, glared at me. Without warning I harshly pulled his left hand from his face so I could get a closer look. Definitely real. Fuck. My stomach dropped, further than it ever had before. I slowly raised my head and found him staring intently at me. We held each other's gaze for at least a few minutes, the awkward silence filling with tension. Finally he yanked his hand out of mine, me having forgot I was still holding it. I watched as he looked down at his hand then shifted his gaze to mine. He looked back and forth, as if not believing the obvious evidence right in front of him. As the rest of the cloudiness cleared from my mind images and memories from last night bombarded me.

Ashley's bachelorette party (more like weekend), the ridiculous drinks, dancing, finding myself alone (finally) at the end of the bar, a drop dead sexy stranger, more drinking (this time without the ridiculous drinks), talking, lots of kissing said drop dead sexy stranger, looking at myself in the mirror wearing a semi-short pitch black dress, some guy in a preacher get-up announcing us husband and wife. Wait, husband? Wife?

I looked to the stranger again, the same drop dead sexy stranger from the night before, in a panic. I watched as he finally realized the same thing I did. We were married.

"Daryl," I whispered, pulling his name from my obviously not so drunken memories.

"Rhetta," he breathed out, having done the same.

He glanced behind me and focused on something. I turned and saw what looked to be a very damning piece of paper sitting haphazardly on the night stand. Reaching for it I finally grasped that I was in fact naked. I could feel a slight blush run across my face and the choked sounding cough from Daryl signaled he was just now aware. Pulling the sheet up I grabbed the paper and turned back to face him. We both stared at the very official looking and very legal marriage certificate declaring us, Daryl Dixon and Rhetta Grace Hays, bound in holy matrimony the night before.

* * *

Something that has been floating around in my head for long enough that I had to put it on paper. It is definitely able to be expanded upon should I feel like it and if you (lovely reader) think it has potential.


	2. Chapter 2

Holy shit. I was now a Vegas cliché. I mean, you hear all the stories about whirlwind romances and quick marriages taking place, usually with a preacher dressed like Elvis. Those are supposed to stay just stories. Getting hitched in Vegas to a stranger was not supposed to happen in real life.

Daryl and I took turns showering and finding our clothes. The whole time I focused on everything I could remember from the night before. One phrase kept coming back to me, replaying over and over in my mind. "Why don't we be lonely together?" I asked him after we had spent the better part of three hours talking, drinking, and kissing. He stared at me with an odd expression on his face. "I mean like, lets get married. Then at least we each have someone who understands." I explained, thinking I made perfect sense. I must have because after a moment he smiled, god he had a gorgeous smile. He slapped some money down onto the bar then pulled me towards the door. Somehow we ended up at a 24 hour wedding chapel and before I knew it he kissed me and we were married. There were two other people who I assumed stood as our witnesses. Apparently after Daryl and I tied the knot we stayed and acted as witnesses for the other couple.

Now Daryl and I were sitting on the end of the bed fairly close to one another. Both of us were obviously deep in thought. I had to find humor in this or the absurd reality would be too much. I was married to a stranger. I fucking got married to a stranger last night in Vegas. Daryl stared at me as I started laughing.

"Who the fuck gets married to a stranger in Vegas?" I asked between laughs.  
"Guess we do," he responded with a slight smirk.

I looked at him and god I wanted to kiss him. He was rough and gruff, just how I liked them, but he was also kind and caring. Rough around the edges but with a gentle soul. From what he told me last night I knew he'd had it pretty bad. Shitty childhood, shitty teenage years, having to scrape by just to make ends meet. Fall in love only for the girl to up and leave without a word. Fucking bitch, I thought. I felt sort of honored that Daryl shared everything he did with me. Maybe that's why we were here now, married and laughing. Not freaking out (ok maybe a little but not like we probably should have been), not trying to find a way out of this mess, not complaining, nothing. I was strangely accepting of this situation and though the thought frightened me it also made me feel rebellious and carefree. Who goes to Vegas and marries a stranger? Me, I did. And goddamn he is sexy. How I ended up with someone as handsome and manly as him I'll never know.

When I finally looked up at his face I found him smirking at me, only this one wasn't all sweet and nice. No this smirk was so much more. Apparently he had caught on to me practically eye-fucking him and had done the same to me. Well at least we had a very healthy physical attraction to each other. One aspect down now all we have to do is figure everything else out. He shifted slightly and stood up causing his muscles to ripple. I gulped (hopefully silently) as I watched, completely entranced by him. Seriously, his overt masculinity and the alpha male, dominant persona he exuded made me want to throw him on the bed and have my way with him. Or rather, he'd probably have his way with me. Either way I was strangely wanting to have hot, passionate sex with my stranger of a husband.

"Breakfast?" he asked, breaking my from my hazy and oh so inappropriate thoughts.  
I swallowed, suddenly finding my throat and mouth dry, and nodded.

It didn't take long to find a place to eat. For the flash and glitz of Vegas this diner seemed more down home and relaxed. We ordered and didn't have to wait long before our food arrived.

"So, I don't think I was as drunk as I thought I was last night," I said while cutting up my pancakes.  
"Yea?" Daryl asked, doing the same to his.  
"Yea. I remember pretty much everything we talked about. There's a few hazy spots, like how we got to the chapel and who the couple was that stood as our witnesses but other than that I recall pretty much everything."  
"Same here."

He glanced up at me and looked almost vulnerable. We had both shared deeply personal and at sometimes dark secrets with each other. I gave him a smile, hoping to convey to him that he could trust me and that I respected how personal what he told me was. He nodded and I read the same message from him. Breakfast was a quiet affair after that, neither us seemingly liking to talk during the meal. Once we were done and our plates cleared I began to finally feel fully awake. Daryl must have been as well as he was now relaxed in the booth, leaning back slightly.

"So," I started but paused before going out on a limb, "What do we do now?"  
Daryl was silent a moment before finally answering, "Well first, where are ya staying at? Probably don't wanna be in that dress all day."

I laughed a little then gave him the name of my hotel. Deciding to go there first we paid our bill then got directions from the waitress. Turns out it was just down the road a ways. As we walked towards the entrance I stopped short upon seeing Ashley in the lobby. She hadn't seen me yet thankfully.

"What's wrong?" Daryl asked.  
"I see my step-sister in the lobby," I replied quietly.  
"She's getting married right?"  
"Yea, this was her big bachelorette party weekend. Obviously not planned by me."  
"Best just to get it over with."

I nodded then took his hand. His eyes went wide for a second but when he saw the nervousness on my face he gave me a small smile. He gave me a reassuring squeeze then began walking again making me do the same. As soon as we entered the lobby Ashley spotted us.

"Oh my god, Rhetta! Where have you been? I was worried," she exclaimed pulling me into a hug disregarding Daryl, who's hand I adamantly refused to let go of.

Ashley and I were complete opposites but given that we're only step-sisters that's not unusual. However, we are also very close and over the years have struck up a strange sort of friendship. Hence why I'm one of her bridesmaids.

"Right, uh well I've been with Daryl," I said before mumbling, "and we kinda got married last night."  
"Say the end again, I didn't quite catch that," she said taking a step back and finally noticing him.  
"We got married last night," I said only slightly louder.

She looked at us for a moment then burst out laughing. Leave it to Ashley to laugh at the situation. Though I guess I have no room to talk since it was only a little bit ago that I was doing the same thing. She tried to say something but was laughing so hard I couldn't understand her. I looked up at Daryl who gave me the same confused and slightly worried look.

"Ashley? You ok?" I asked slowly.  
She nodded trying to catch her breath.  
"I'm not kidding. We're seriously married."  
"I figured but still it is funny."  
"Wait, you're not mad?"  
"Why would I be mad? You marrying a stranger in Vegas is the weirdest and probably funniest thing to happen this weekend. I mean, I love Sarah to death but she's been a little up-tight with her maid of honor responsibilities."  
"Ok, I'm confused. Anyone else would be yelling and saying how stupid we are."  
"Rhetta, you are a stubborn bitch and I mean that with all the love in the world. You only do something if you want to and if you have a good reason to. So you marrying Daryl, obviously you had a good reason. Even though I'm assuming you just met him last night."  
"Yea. I forget the excuse I gave to get away but I obviously never came back. Found him at the end of the bar and well now here we are."  
"I knew you were getting uncomfortable being around the other girls so no big deal. Now, Rhetta why don't you go change while I talk a moment with your new husband."

When I didn't move Daryl pulled his hand from mine and gave me a gentle shove, "Go on, I'll be fine."

I knew he was nervous but also knew Ashley wouldn't lecture him. She probably figured he might give some more details about what happened and why we got married. When I got to my room I peeled off the dress before rummaging through my suitcase for something else to wear. I threw on a pair of jeans, an old concert t-shirt, and my work boots. Looking at the slinky black heels from the night before I couldn't help but wonder how I didn't break my ankle while walking in them, especially when I was inebriated. I rarely wore heels, feeling much more comfortable in my work boots or occasionally tennis shoes. If I was at the home though it was pretty much guaranteed that I was barefoot. Finally dressed and not having any reason to stall longer I took in a deep breath then headed back to the lobby. I would enjoy this whole new experience while I could because I had the sinking feeling that the bubble of strange contentedness that surround us was going to pop very soon.

* * *

Another chapter down. I hope you like the story so far.


End file.
